How to Run a Business in a High-Tax State (Without Giving All Your Money to the Government)

Death and taxes are inevitable. We can help you with the second part.

BY BRIAN CONTRERAS, STAFF WRITER @_B_CONTRERAS_

Photo illustration: Inc Art

With its casinos, clubs, and nightlife, Las Vegas is probably not the first place you’d think of to put a baby clothes brand.

But when co-founder and CEO Karan Garg was choosing where to headquarter his company, Viverano Organics (No. 1,826 on the 2025 Inc. 5000 list), he landed in Sin City—in part because its tax landscape is almost as sparse as the surrounding desert. Notably, Nevada has no corporate or individual income tax.

“Being in a no-state-income-tax environment creates a level of simplicity and efficiency that’s hard to ignore, especially when you’re building and scaling a business,” Garg says. “It allows us to reinvest more directly into growth—whether that’s product development, inventory, or expanding our reach.”

Indeed, there’s a lot to be said for running a business in a low-tax environment, especially in an age when remote work and telecoms have made interstate entrepreneurship easier than ever. Yet many founders nevertheless choose to work from high-tax states. California has the highest income tax rate in the country, yet is also the fourth-largest economy in the world; New York, the state with the third-highest income tax rate last year, is an entrepreneurial powerhouse in its own right. Both have fairly high corporate income tax rates as well.

Clearly, many business owners are willing to overlook the tax hit they take in these states. But why? It could be that they need first-hand access to local business networks; perhaps they have kids in school, or a house they like, which keeps them tied down. Or maybe—imagine this!—they just love the area, higher taxes be damned. (Can you really put a price tag on a California sunset, after all, or a fresh New York City bagel?)

Even Garg says that Nevada’s low taxes got him only so far: “It’s an advantage, no doubt, but execution, product-market fit, and strong relationships matter far more. The tax structure helps at the margins—it doesn’t build the business for you.”

So what can these business leaders do to make the most of a high-tax HQ? Inc. spoke with a handful of growth-minded founders based out of New York and California to learn their tips, tricks, and best practices for running a business in the face of substantial taxation.

They say two things in life are inevitable: death and taxes. We can help you with the second one, at least.

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